Course Outline for College Algebra

  Dates Sections covered and topics
1
1
1
1
1

1

8/23 - 8/27 R.1 real numbers , interval notation, absolute value
R.2 integers as exponents, scientific notation, order of operations
R.3 polynomials, addition and subtraction , multiplication
R.4 terms with common factors, special factorizations
R.5 simplifying, multiplying, and dividing rational expressions,
adding and subtracting rational expressions
R.6 simplifying radical expressions , rationalizing denominators or numerator
 
2
2

2

2
8/30 - 9/3 R.7 linear and quadratic equations
1.1 definition of function, domain and range of function,
vertical line test, finding domains of functions
1.2 equations of horizontal and vertical lines, slope intercept form,
average rate of change, point slope form
1.3 using graphing calculator to fit data to a linear function,
correlation coefficient
 
3


3
9/7 - 9/10
Labor Day
on 9/6
1.4 finding relative maximum and relative minimum values of a function
graphing piecewise functions, algebra with functions,
finding the domain of sums, products and quotients
1.5 testing a graph for x-axis symmetry, y-axis symmetry and symmetry
about the origin, testing if a function is even or odd or neither,
vertical and horizontal translations of graphs, vertical stretching and
shrinking of graphs, horizontal stretching and shrinking of graphs,
reflections across the x-axis and across the y-axis
   
4 9/13 - 9/17 1.6 direct variation and finding the constant of proportionality ,
inverse variation and finding the constant of proportionality,
combination of inverse and direct variation
1.7 distance formula for points in the plane, midpoint formula,
equation of a circle in standard form
2.1 algebraically solving for zero of a linear function, solving equations on
calculator by finding the zero of a function, by finding intersecting pt
Exam 1 on 9/17
4

4
 
5 9/20 - 9/24 2.2 real and imaginary parts of complex numbers,
addition, subtraction and multiplication of complex numbers,
complex conjugation, dividing one complex number by another
2.3 using completing the square to solve quadratic equations,
using the quadratic formula: discriminant determines types of
answers, solving equations which are quadratic in form
2.4 graphing quadratic functions in vertex form , in standard form: finding
the vertex, shape and line of symmetry, max-min word problems
5
 

5

 
6 9/27 – 10/1 2.6 solving rational equations, radical eqns and eqns with absolute value
2.7 multiplication principle for inequalities, solving linear inequalities,
solving conjunction(and) and disjunction(or) type inequalities
3.1 degree and leading coefficient of a polynomial function, leading term
test for general shape of the graph, maximum number of intercepts and
turning points for a polynomial of degree n, using Intermediate Value
Theorem to estimate the location of zero
6  
6
 
7

10/4 - 10/8

10/11 -10/15

3.2 doing long division: identifying dividend, divisor, quotient and remainder
and interpreting the result, the remainder theorem and factor theorem
3.3 multiplicity of zeros, finding real and complex zeros of polynomial
functions by factoring, complex zeros of polynomials with real
coefficients occur in conjugate pairs, rational zeros theorem
8 10/11 - 10/15 3.4 finding the domain of a rational function, finding equations of vertical
asymptotes, finding equation of horizontal asymptote, oblique
asymptote occurs when degree numerator is 1 more than degree of
denominator
3.5 using sign charts and test points to solve polynomial and rational
inequalities, using the graphing calculator to solve inequalities
8  
9 10/18 - 10/22 4.1 finding the composition of functions, finding the domain of a composite function,
writing a function as a composition, interchanging x and y coordinates to
graph the inverse relation, using the horizontal line test to decide if a function
is one to one, reflecting across line y=x to graph the inverse function,
restricting the domain when the function is not one to one to define an inverse fn
4.2 graphs of exponential function
Exam 2 on 10/22
9  
10 10/25 - 10/29 4.3 definition of logarithmic function , converting a logarithmic to an exponential
equation and vice versa, domain logarithm functions, natural logarithms,
using the change of base formula to compute logarithms
4.4 using rules for logarithm of a product, quotient and power to other properties
of logarithms
4.5 solving simple exponential equations, solving exponential equations by
taking a logarithm on both sides, solving logarithmic equations
10

10

 
11
11

11

10/25 - 10/29

 
4.6 exponential growth and doubling time, exponential decay and half life
5.1 solving system of two equations and two unknowns: substitution and
elimination methods
5.2 solving system of three equations
12 11/8- 11/12 5.3 augmented matrix for a system of linear equations, elementary row operations,
recognizing row reduced echelon form, Gauss-Jordan method of solving
systems of equations
5.4 addition, subtraction, and scalar multiplication of matrices,
additive inverse of a matrix, the zero matrix, knowing when you can multiply
matrices together, matrix multiplication
12  
13  11/15-11/19 5.5 the identity matrix, definition of the multiplicative inverse of a square matrix,
Gauss-Jordan method of finding an inverse (if it exists),
using inverses to solve matrix equations
5.6 using geometric linear programming techniques to solve system
of linear equations
13  
14 11/22 - 11/23 Exam 3 on 11/22
Thanks giving this week
15  11/29- 12/3 5.7 decomposing rational expressions into partial fractions
Review
Dead Week
    Common Final Exam on December 4 at 2:00 PM
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